I´ve already overcome that part of the problem.:wink:
1500cc 30horser!:twisted:

---

Can anyone give me any feedback on Wolfsburg West okrasa style air cleaners? Are they close to original
Knecht?

there is a guy in brazil that sells air cleaners that are very close. the business name is splitpartsunlimited.... should be the website name too I think.

Ricardo Deisernia – Splitpartsunlimited, Argentina.
Here's the link:
https://www.splitpartsunlimited.com/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=96&osCsid=baab0e6680f15598ad118422e00521eb 

---

Thanks, I am interested in the WW filters because I will be going to cali. and the cost and shipping would be less.

are these repro okrasa kits available yet and is there a link to order them

As far as I know they're not available to the public yet. You can sign up for the WW e-newsletter on their site so you'll be informed as soon as they are launched: https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/wired.cfm 

---

thanks john

Ww don't reproduce 40hp okrasa kit :evil:

Yes, but it should be easy to make some Okrasa style manifolds to fit normal twin port heads. Then you get the look.

---

cannot say i'm crying about this, as i have spent a fortune on mine, and would hate for people to think it was a copy.

Although if i had been starting now, i would love a new set of heads for that money, i paid that on machine work alone, although the heads were cheap, cheap, cheap..

George what you putting said quicker engine in?, next show you see me at, collar me, i'll show you how quick one is.

---

A copy of what? If you go to a general VW show the level of ignorance of Vintage Speed is huge. Most will think, twin carbs, twin port heads; you have a 1600 under the decklid...but hey! nice oil filter.:roll:

Of course there are a growing number of us who's main interest in the hobby is Vintage Speed and who know what they're looking at but we're a drop in the ocean.

Better get used to it Andy, as long as you have your genuine article an increasing number of people will be pissing you off, asking if it's one of those new WW Kits.:cry:

---

:lol:

Oh well, i suppose anything is availible reproduction if you have enough money to build it, and TBH only the crank, heads and carb stacks are OG. The rest are repro items. :wink:

Still love driving it

---

There can be big differences between individual engines that look the same outside. Some okrasa's have bigger valves... bigger cranks... bigger cams... bigger pistons... or more compression than others. These will be faster than those with stock pistons, stock cranks, stock cams, and stock okrasa valves.

Okrasa heads and dual carbs on stock innards will put out maybe 45 hp... a guess. Nice... but nothing to write home about.

A modified okrasa can put out 65-70 hp on bigger cylinders, crank, valves, compression and a Porsche 1300 or 1500 S cam... a fun motor... f'ing expensive... but fun. A highly modified okrasa can cruise at 70mph... and can be pushed to 85mph for a short time. It feels similar to a stock 1600 normal 356 engine... not quite as much torque maybe.

A boring 1776 or 1835 dual port with kadrons will whip my ass for about 1/3th the price though... so it is really kinda funny to buy a repro oldspeed power kit unless you are also getting the bigger pistons, cam, crank etc. But these are not yet available... so I recommend it might be better to build an 1835 with kadrons... for a period 70's cal-look engine... rather than a fake okrasa without the innards. You will be happier with the result.

I think that the okrasa reproductions will have a market eventually... when the balance of what it takes to get power is available... but I doubt it will be with the current oldspeed guys. They will continue to strive to build original old engines with period parts. I suppose it will be nice to have replacement parts... but I am a bit sad for some reason.

(edit note... Oct. 2009... I just bought some repro Okrasa linkage bits from Wolfsburg West. They came in the mail... the bell crank and cross arm and the misc. bits. They look awesome. I am no longer sad!... these bits have allowed me to complete my otherwise all orig Okrasa.... So now... I say this is an awesome resource. We just need cranks and bigger pistons added to the equation... and cams!)

---

$1395 is cheap for new repro kits. Granted in the 70's & 80's I bought new and used kits for $50-$100, but it took a lot of work to locate and rework
those old parts. I bought all the old stock from PowerHaus and Daryl Vittone @ The Race Shop, what fun! I even bought the last NOS Abarth mufflers, We gazed into the crystal ball really hard! but there wasn't much left by the 90's. I sat on a 40 hp Ok for 10 years before someone bought it, wish I had a truckload of them now. Unless you're horny for old and slow, spend more and use a 1300/1500 Porsche motor. It will outperform,outlast and resale better
than any 36 hp crank/snapper, yes that includes Ok cranks too, can you say brittle! We used Gene Berg Int. in Orange, Ca. for all of our crank work back then. Good luck

Just remembered! We ran a 56 small window (thats what they were called in the 70's) @ Bug In 12(?) with a 36 Okrasa motor and a 67 trans. It ran 17.00s
till we red lighted. The engine was 69x77, with 40 hp Mahle pistons, no barrel spacers! a 1300s porsche cam with 36 hp lifters. A real budget bastard that made 50 hp on a Stuska dyno. I modified the pistons because it was cheaper than making barrel spacers to accomodate the longer stroke, compression
ratio- enough!. Sold the motor later for $500 complete, yes, thats all they were worth.

Great stories Phil, thanks for sharing.
I´m picturing you attacking the piston tops with an angle grinder now!

---

We first started working with vintage speed parts in the mid seventies, which I refer to as the Dark Ages. Most of the manufactures had gone out of
business, or changed to newer product lines. We were in the dark, published material was vague, parts were often thrashed. We had to guess which
part went where, or what was the correct combination, ie cams, compression etc. We didn't know where to find pistons with higher pin height, or to
use barrel spacers with the increased stroke. Cheap solution, cut 5 mm off the piston crowns. Result, holed piston in 50 miles. Plan B, use thicker
40 hp Mahle pistons and only cut material which interfered with the cyl head. Success!

Would I do that now days? probably not, but 35 yrs. ago Okrasa engines were almost worthless. My how times have changed.

P. S. We did have lathes back then.

You sound like a prime candidate for the 36hp Land Speed Challenge Phil...are you putting something together??

It is amazing how the Internet has transformed the Vintage VW scene in the last 15 years and "Vintage Speed" in the last 10. When I took my Judson powered Beetle to shows here in the UK in the late '90s it was a true rarity...just mine and maybe Richard Tricker's occasionally. At Hessisch recently they were all over the place...the same with Okrasas...and now they're reproducing things you previously couldn't give away.

---

Thanks John, I feel like Rip Van Winkle! and I just woke up!

In the 70/80s LA vintage scene I never saw a Judson set/up, except in some old mag. I ran an Auto technics dual carb set up for a while-no one cared!
I could'nt give away a 40 hp SPG roller!

We may have have been the source for everything Cal look, but the LA/OC vintage scene was stagnant. same cars,people,petty whining. We moved off to
the historical vehicle scene, fresh people with open minds who had never seen a Rometsch before. Granted some of those old folks refered to VW's as
"nazi shit wagons", but we perservered and over the years shared our car with thousands.

We were "invited" to attend dozens of Concours d'elegance from San Diego to Palm Springs to Santa Barbara, and many points between. Usually we showed
with an Okrasa motor, but I don't think It mattered. If you're nice to people, and willing to share your car, answer questions, no matter how inane. You get invited to other events, the spectators don't come to see you do fire burn-outs, they come because they like cars.

I'm not putting down vintage vw shows, they are what they are- VW shows. But they can limit what you can do or experience with your vehicle.
I won't bore you by telling all the cool things we did, and the beautiful people we rubbed elbows with, but was'nt just with the Vintage VW scene.

My comments sir obviously are not directed to you personally, and if I've rubbed anyones fur the wrong way. I apologize.